Buying leads
What do planning leads cost in 2026?
Nobody in this market prices the same way, so nothing compares. Here is what you are actually buying, broken into its three parts, with what each part costs.
A planning lead is three things, not one
Every service in this market sells some mixture of the same three parts, and prices them as one number. That is why nothing compares.
- The application. Who has applied to build what, and where.
- The applicant. A name and an address you can write to.
- The letter. Printing it, stuffing it, stamping it, posting it.
- The application itself — free. Every council publishes its own list of new applications, free, every week.
- The applicant's name and address — 10p a letter. The part that takes work: finding who applied and where to write to them.
- Printing it and posting it — 88p a letter. The published list price of a UK print-and-post service, at one A4 letter.
The first part is free. Every council in the country publishes its own list of new applications every week, because the law says it must. Anyone can read it and nobody charges for it.
The third part has a published price too: £0.88 for one A4 letter, printed and posted, on the public rate card of a UK print-and-post service.
So the money in this market is the middle part — finding out who applied, where to write to them, and doing it every week without anybody sitting at a spreadsheet on a Monday morning.
What it costs a month
- Do the whole thing yourself. Free council lists, your own print account, your own evenings. At 100 letters a month that is about £88 — and nothing in this market is cheaper.
- Buy the data and post them yourself. 3 services publish a price for this. With the printing added it comes to between £98 and £137 a month.
- Have someone else do all of it. 7 services publish a price, and they run from £134.60 to £579 a month for the same 100 letters. That is a fourfold spread for the same job.
- Just Granted. £39 a month with 30 letters included and £1.20 each after that, or a free account with no subscription at all and £1.45 a letter.
The whole market, at seven volumes
The spread is the story here. At every volume the dearest published way of doing this costs several times the cheapest, for work that is not several times better.
| Letters a month | Do it yourself | Just Granted | Buy the data, post them yourself | Have it done for you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | £22 | £39 | £32–£71 3 services | £39–£519 7 services |
| 50 | £44 | £63 | £54–£93 3 services | £76.25–£539 7 services |
| 100 | £88 | £123 | £98–£137 3 services | £134.60–£579 7 services |
| 150 | £132 | £183 | £142–£181 3 services | £187.70–£619 7 services |
| 250 | £217 | £303 | £227–£266 3 services | £316.70–£699 7 services |
| 433 | £367.06 | £522.60 | £377.06–£416.06 3 services | £552.77–£952.60 7 services |
| 650 | £545 | £783 | £555–£594 3 services | £784–£1,430 7 services |
What nobody will tell you
5 of the services in this market publish no price at all. You get a form, a demo, and a number that depends on who is asking. That is a standing hole in any comparison of this market, including this one, and it is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon on it.
Where a price is published it is often published in a way that cannot be compared: per council, per user, per year, ex-VAT, with a twelve-month commitment, or with the printing charged separately. Three things worth asking any of them:
- Does that price include posting the letters, or only the list?
- Does it cover the whole country, or one council at a time?
- Is it a monthly price, or a year paid up front?
Every service, named
| Service | 25 | 50 | 100 | 150 | 250 | 433 | 650 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just Granted — the plan | £39 | £63 | £123 | £183 | £303 | £522.60 | £783 |
| Just Granted — Free, pay per letter | £36.25 | £72.50 | £145 | £217.50 | £362.50 | £627.85 | £942.50 |
| PlanPost | £39 | £76.25 | £134.60 | £187.70 | £316.70 | £552.77 | £832.70 |
| BuildAlert | £50 | £100 | £200 | £300 | £500 | £866 | £1,300 |
| TradeMailer | £120 | £285 | £285 | £410 | £550 | £952.60 | £1,430 |
| Buildscout Local Standard | £274 | £299 | £349 | £399 | £499 | £682 | £899 |
| Buildscout National | £519 | £539 | £579 | £619 | £699 | £845.40 | £1,019 |
| Serac Tech Business, plus your own Stannp account | £261 | £283 | £327 | £371 | £456 | £606.06 | £784 |
| 2BuildUK managed mailing | £95 | £95 | £190 | £285 | £475 | £822.70 | £1,235 |
| 2BuildUK data, one council, plus your own Stannp | £32 | £54 | £98 | £142 | £227 | £377.06 | £555 |
| SiteLens Pro plus your own Stannp | £61 | £83 | £127 | £171 | £256 | £406.06 | £584 |
| UK Planning Leads plus your own Stannp | £71 | £93 | £137 | £181 | £266 | £416.06 | £594 |
| The floor: free council lists plus your own Stannp | £22 | £44 | £88 | £132 | £217 | £367.06 | £545 |
| Planning Pipe | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| PlanLead | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Nest Data | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| BuildSpotter | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Active Planning Leads | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
What we do about it
One price for the whole country, published on the site, with the letters included rather than billed separately. No contract, no minimum term, and the same price whether you work in one council or twenty.
Read next
Who publishes this
Just Granted reads the planning register of every council we cover, every week, and posts letters to the applicants for you. A free account searches all of it and posts a letter for £1.45 with no subscription. £39 a month adds the applicants' names and addresses, with 30 letters included and £1.20 each after that.